ATLANTA, Jan. 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Spelman College is proud to announce it has been ranked No. 1 among America’s Best Colleges for Women in 2026 by Newsweek. The new ranking incorporates the unique considerations young women make when deciding where to attend college.
“Spelman College is thrilled to be ranked as one of Newsweek’s America’s Best Colleges for Women,” said the College. “This is a tremendous honor and a reflection of our commitment to leadership development, student access and opportunity and campus safety. We are proud of our legacy as a global leader in the education of women of African descent and remain dedicated to fostering an inclusive, modernized living and learning environment for our students.”
To develop the ranking, Newsweek partnered with Gender Fair, which provides rankings based on equality and gender parity to promote accountability. The methodology used to develop the rankings utilized federally reported data from the U.S. Department of Education – the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the Campus Safety and Security Database to provide a new dimension of insight.
“Spelman College’s placement reflects its strong performance across the four core measurements, leadership, pay, safety and opportunity, and emphasizes the school’s long-standing commitment to support women leaders in equitable and safe academic environments,” said Newsweek in its ranking announcement.
The ranking considered co-educational institutions in the U.S. that offer bachelor’s degrees, have a minimum of 1,000 students, and employ at least 20 women in academic roles. Other top colleges include St. Catherine University, Thomas Jefferson University, Miami Dade College, California State University – Los Angeles and CUNY York College.
To learn more about Newsweek’s America’s Best Colleges for Women 2026 ranking, visit newsweek.com.
About Spelman College
Founded in 1881, Spelman College is a leading liberal arts college widely recognized as the global leader in the education of women of African descent. Located in Atlanta, the College’s picturesque campus is home to 2,300 students. Spelman is the country’s leading producer of Black women who complete Ph.D.s in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The College’s status is confirmed by the U.S. News & World Report, which ranked Spelman No. 39 among all liberal arts colleges, No. 19 for undergraduate teaching, No. 2 for social mobility among liberal arts colleges, and No. 1 for the 17th year among historically Black colleges and universities. Recent initiatives include a designation by the Department of Defense as a Center of Excellence for Minority Women in STEM, a Gender and Sexuality Studies Institute, the first endowed queer studies chair at an HBCU and a program to increase the number of Black women Ph.D.s in economics. New majors and minors have been added, including documentary filmmaking and photography, data science, refugee studies and gaming. Collaborations have been also established with MIT’s Media Lab, the Broad Institute and the Army Research Lab for artificial intelligence and machine learning, among others.
Outstanding alumnae include Children’s Defense Fund founder Marian Wright Edelman, former Walgreens Boots Alliance CEO Rosalind Brewer, political leader Stacey Abrams, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa D. Cook, former Acting Surgeon General and Spelman’s first alumna president Audrey Forbes Manley, Harvard University professor and former Dean Evelynn Hammonds, actress and producer Latanya Richardson Jackson, global bioinformatics geneticist Janina Jeff and authors Pearl Cleage and Tayari Jones.
To learn more, please visit spelman.edu and @spelmancollege on social media.
- Newsweek’s 2026 America’s Best Colleges for Women Ranking